Pope Appeals to Laval for French Jews; U.S. Asked to Admit 3,500 Jewish Children

August 27, 1942

BERN (Aug. 26)

An urgent appeal by Pope Pius XII to the French Government in Vichy asking for an end to the deportations of Jews from France and for modification of the anti-Jewish laws was delivered to Pierre Laval, Chief of State, last Saturday by Monsignor Valerio Valeri, Papal Nuncio, it was learned here today.

At the same time Jewish welfare institutions in France issued an appeal to the governments of the United States and other democratic countries requesting that these countries admit 3,500 Jewish children whose parents have been deported from France to occupied eastern Europe by the Nazis.

The appeal by the Pope coincided with strongly-worded protests against racial and religious persecution in France sent to Marshal Petain last week by Cardinal Suchard, Archbishop of Paris, and Cardinal Gerlier, Archbishop of Lyon. The Papal Nuncio, in submitting the appeal to Laval, emphasized the interest of the Catholic world in the fate of the persecuted Jews.

The London radio today reported that the Nazis are planning to send to Germany 4,000 Jewish children picked up in Paris during the recent mass-arrests of 28,000 Jews there. German authorities in France intend to take all identification papers from the children, making it impossible for their parents ever to find them, the broadcast said.

“Many personalities have asked the Vichy government to try to prevent this crime, which constitutes a flagrant violation of the armistice conditions, but Vichy is not disposed to act,” the British announcer stated.

Priests of Jewish origin who are forced to wear the yellow star in Paris are encountering general consideration and sympathy on the part of the Paris population, according to other reports reaching here. It is a common sight, the reports state, to see these priests showing the star with dignified ostentation, being surrounded in the streets and slapped on the back and shaken by the hand by strangers.